NEW DELHI :
Returning the electoral favour, the Congress party on Sunday announced that it would leave 7 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh for the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) which have formed an alliance. The alliance had earlier decided against fielding candidates in the Gandhi bastions of Amethi and Raebareli.

With this, Congress is well below its earlier target of contesting all seats in UP as it has already left two seats for Krishna Patel-led Apna Dal and has formed an alliance with Jan Adhikar Party. The moves also signal a tacit understanding between the Congress and other opposition parties of not contesting any stronghold constituency.

“The Congress party has decided to not contest seven Lok Sabha seats in the state for the SP, BSP and RLD alliance. The seats include Mainpuri, Kannauj and Firozabad (all SP bastions). We will not field candidate on any seats which will be contested by BSP chief Mayawati, RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary," Raj Babbar, UP Congress chief told reporters in Lucknow without disclosing the seventh seat.